It’s been a decade since word first broke that Guillermo del Toro (Pinocchio) would be writing and producing a film based on Disney’s The Haunted Mansion and now it appears the studio is going a different route as Katie Dippold (Ghostbusters) has been hired to pen the script for a new adaptation, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Plot details are currently being kept under wraps for the new adaptation of the Burbank-based ride, especially given the only real story for the attraction is that guests are traveling through the titular location full of supernatural frights including a graveyard alive with spirits and the ghastly psychic Madame Leota.
The 50-plus-year-old ride was previously adapted for film in 2003 with the Eddie Murphy-starring pic of the same name directed by Rob Minkoff (Mr. Peabody & Sherman) that took a more liberal approach to the source lore and received generally negative reviews from critics for its lack of effective scares or humor, though it was a box office hit, grossing over $180 million on its $90 million budget.
Del Toro previously made the surprise announcement at 2010’s San Diego Comic-Con International that he would be writing and producing a new, darker take on the ride for the House of Mouse, aiming for a PG-13 rating and seeing the Hatbox Ghost as the main antagonist to the story, while word broke in 2015 that Ryan Gosling (First Man) was in talks to star in the project. The last word spoken of the project came in 2019 when del Toro revealed that he was unsure if the project would ever get off the ground though still held a good feeling about the scripts he turned into the studio and that he believed they still had interest in it.
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After working on MADtv as a staff writer from 2006-2009 and a staff writer and co-producer on NBC’s Parks and Recreation, Dippold entered the world of films with the action comedy The Heat starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, which received generally positive reviews from critics and audiences, and followed it up with the all-female reboot of Ghostbusters, which she co-wrote with director Paul Feig in her third collaboration with him.
